The search for happiness

Curator Lenka Sýkorová (Professor at the Faculty of Art and Design, Jan Evangelista Purkyne University in Ústí nad Labem) and artist Jan Pfeiffer delivered a three-day workshop to the first-year MTL Art students at the University of Malta in November, 2024. ‘The search for happiness’ was the general theme of the workshop, with sessions on curatorial practices, happiness and melancholy in the history of art and discussions about the students’ own research around these themes. The students’ work forms part of a yearlong project supported by other lecturers (Robert Zahra, Paul Scerri, Mark Anthony Lughermo) and course coordinator Professor Raphael Vella. The workshop was followed by Jan Pfeiffer’s exhibition at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta, in which the students participated with a filmed performance.